Apparatus for drying coated paper.



J. 0. ROSS & A. H. BLAGKBURN.

APPARATUS FOR DRYIEG GOATED PAPER. APPLICATION FILED rnB.5,19o9.

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Patented July 18, 1911.

an sra rns Parana ornice...

JOHN 0. ROSS AND ARTHUR H. BLACKBURN, OF MATTEAWAN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORS TO THE GREEN FUEL ECONOMIZER COMPANY, OF MATTEAWAN, NEW .YORK, A

CORPORATION on NEW YO K:

APPARATUS FOR DRYING COATED PAPER.

Specification ofILettersPatent. Patented July 18, 1911.

Application filed February 5, 1909. Serial N o. 476,2l6.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be itknown thatwe, JOHN 0. Ross, a citizen of the United States, and ART UR H. BLACKBURN, a subject of the King of Great Britain,.both residing at Matteawan,

in the county of Dutchess and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Drying Coated Paper, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to the drying of wet fabrics, forexample paper, and more particularly so-called coated paperp In the art of coating paper the coating is applied in the wet state and'must of course be dried before the paper can be used. For effecting the drying itis customary to suspend the paper in a suitable dryin medium, preferably warm air, for a sufiicient time. It is evident that during the drying oper'ationthepaper must not be rubbed, as rubbing injures the wet coating and thereby renders that part of the'paper worthless. Various expedients have been resorted to for avoiding rubbing and other injuries to the coating while the paper is suspended in the drying medium, but, as is well known to those skilled in the art, these expedients have been only partially successful at best and in consequence there is a very large amount of waste in the manufacture of such paper on account of injury to thecoating while wet.

/Ve have therefore been led to devise our present invention, which has for its .,chief object to provide a method of drying, and an efficient apparatus for practicing the same, by which the paper can be suspended in the drying'medium without contact with any solid object whatsoever from the time it issues from the coating machine until-it reaches the apparatus by which it is wound in rolls or ,'otherwise disposed of. This avoidance of contact with solid objects eliminates allinjury to the wet co.ting, (unless, of course, the wet paper should chance to tear, an occurrence which in the practical operation of our invention we have found very rarely happens), and the result is that the great waste incurred in the prior methods of drying is practically wholly avoided.

The avoidance of contactwith solid objects is the chief advantage of our invert.

tion, and flows from the fact that the paper, in its passage from the coating apparatus to the receivingmac'hine, is supported by the air, or other drying medium employed; the paper being caused to float, as it were, in the air, thus not only keeping the paper from engagement with suspending rollers,

bars, or other objects, but relieving the wet paper of practically all strains incidentv to its weight and thereby reducing to the minimum all liabilityof tearing.

In carrying out our improved method of.

drying the web of paper, issuing -fromthe coating. apparatus coated on one or both sides, is carried alongand above a suitable pipe or conduit-in which flows a current of gaseous drying medium, for example a current of air heated to a temperature of, say, 100 F., more or less. On the upper side of the conduit is a series of rearwardlyinclined nozzles, which'serveto direct broad and relatively thin jets' of air rearwardly v end and the receiving devices at'the other. The method thus briefly described not only eliminates the waste of the prior methods,

but .in using our method it has been found feasible to coat both sides of the paper'at once.

In'the annexed drawings we have illus-.

trated somewhat diagrammatically, a: simple and convenient apparatus which has been used with marked success in the practice 'of our invention, and referring now to the drawings, F gure l is a side view of the apparatus showlng'the paper delivered from .the coating machine, and passing over the air-nozzles to the winding machine... Fig. 2

is across section of the air-conduit, showi-ng one of the air-nozzles. Fig. 3 1s a detail of one of the air-nozzles, taken-online III-JII of Fig. 2. i

The coating apparatus and the winding or receiving machine are designated by 1 and 2 respectively. These machines are repmounted on the top of the ponduit. At the. inlet end, adjacent to the winder 2, the "coirduit is connected with a heater 5 and a fan 6, or other means for creating a current of air, the heater and fan being of any suitable and convenient type. The conduit itself is tapering,,or of decreasing cross section, from the inlet end to the other end, sothat the velocity of the current, the volume of which decreases by discharge from the successive nozzles, will be-maintained as nearly con stant as possible throughout the length of the conduit.

The nozzles are of the form shown in Figs. 2 and 3, with the outlet 7 horizontal and slightly wider than the web of paper which is to be dried. The nozzle tapers downwardly to a short pipe 8 by which it is connected to the air-conduit, and mounted in the connecting pipe is a suitable damper, for example one of the ordinary butterfly type, as 9, by which the volume and velocity of the air' delivered from the individual nozzles can be regulated. The nozzles are made of sheet metal, and at the outlet of each is a series of bolts 10 by which the area or capacity of the outlet can be varied at one point or another for the purpose of regulating the density of the air-jet in one portion or another thereof. By this means the discharge may be made uniform across the nozzle or concentrated more or less at any point or points.

The heater and the fan or blower being in operation, so that jets of heated air are discharged from the nozzles, the web of paper as it first issues from the coater is grasped by two workmen, one on each side, and carried along the a.irconduit to the winder, whichv is capable of taking care of the paper as fast as it is delivered. By the time the paper reaches the winding devices it 'is thoroughly dried and maybe delivered directly to the winding drum or other receiving devices or may be passed first through suitable guide rollers, as '11. Thereafter the paper is received by the winder as fast as it issues from'the coater, and in its passage from one to the other the paper is supported by the. upwardly directed airjets, so that the web of paper is relieved of practically all tension due to its weight. Liability of rupture or tearing of the paper is thus practically eliminated, and at the same time the wet coating or coatings, being wholly. out of contact with any solid objects, suchas rollers, bars, or other sup porting device's," reach the winder in perfect condition.

The Web in its passage should be substaneaaaoe adjustment of the adjacent nozzle outlet or outlets. Thus if the paper tends to swerve to the rightv viewed in Fig. 2) the bolts 10 of one or more of the nozzles at the point where the lateral displacement of the paper occurs are adjusted to increase the amount of air discharged at the right of the nozzle, or diminish the amount flowing from the left, or both. I This will result in lifting the right edge of the paper more than the left and in consequence the paper will shift back to the left again, to a position directly over-the nozzle.

It will be observed in Fig. 1 that the nozzles are inclined toward the rear, that is, contrary tothe direction of the movement of the paper, so that the jets of air have a rearwardas well as an upward direction. This is an important feature of the inven tion, for the reason that the movement of air, along the web of paper is thus made rearward also, so that the paper carries with it no vapor-laden air as would be the case if the jets were directed vertically or were forwardly inclined. Moreover, as the paper, robbed of part of its moisture by the air of one jet, moves on to the next it always passes into a drier atmosphere, that is, one containing less moisture, than'the one it had ust left. The result is a more rapid and even drying of thepaper than could be secured with the air-jets vertical or forwardly inclined.

Practical use of the method and apparatus herein described has demonstrated the effectiveness thereof. The waste due to injury to the wet coating or coatings in pass ing over rollers or other supporting devices is wholly eliminated, and the output is largely increased by reason of the rapid and even drying of the paper.

What we claim is 1. In an apparatus for the purpose described the combinationwith a coating apparatus and mechanism for receiving the coated paper, of an air conduit extending between the coating apparatus and the receiving mechanism, a series of upwardly extending rearwardly inclined nozzles on the upper side of the conduit the outlets of said nozzles being relatively narrow and extending transversely to the conduit, means for creating a current of air in said conduit and means at the discharge of the nozzles for maintaining an equal flow of air from all the nozzles whereby the paper to be dried is held in a plane equidistant from the air conduit.

conduit over which the paper is passed longitudinally, means for delivering a, current of air to the conduit, and a series of trans versely arranged nozzles on the upper side of the conduit, provided at their outlets with compression bolts for contracting or, ex-

panding the discharge area of the outlet at one or more points, asset forth. 7.

3. In an apparatus for the purpose described, the combination of an air-conduit, a

nozzle on the upper side of the Conduit havtures in the ing' a narrow. elon charge outlet atone or more points, as set orth.-- v

Intestimony whereof We aflixour signaitnesses. v

' JOHN O. ROSS.

ARTHUR H. BLACKBURN. Witnesses:

M. H. KEA'I'IN 1 JAS. W. TERRY. i

ated discharge outlet arranged, transverse y of the conduit, and 5 means for varying the Width of the said disv presence of two subscribing 20 

